[Renato Brun Del Re] Three more charged in kidnapping and deprogramming case

Hamilton police have charged three more persons in connection with a bizarre kidnapping incident near a Hamilton church three years ago.

Each person is charged with forcible confinement, which carries up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

This brings to six the number of people charged, after an alleged attempt to deprogram a woman who joined the Dominion Christian Centre (DCC) on Park Street North in Hamilton.

Police arrested a man, 25, and a woman, 28, both of Toronto, on Monday. A 26-year-old Oakville woman was arrested Tuesday.

Three members of the alleged victim’s family, including her father Dr. Renato Brun Del Re, 53, a family physician in Mississauga; and her brother Giancarlo, 25, were charged with kidnapping and forcible confinement in August this year.

The woman’s mother, Lucie Brun Del Re, 54, a Georgetown secondary school teacher, was charged with forcible confinement at the same time.

Deprogramming

Deprogramming is a process that reverses alleged brainwashing. It is controversial in that the process is usually started without the voluntary cooperation of the person being deprogrammed.

Initially, the term ‘deprogramming’ referred to both voluntary and involuntary intervention. Over time, however, the term came to refer primarily to involuntary intervention.

The woman’s father told The Spectator in August he believes the Dominion Christian Centre “is a cult,” a charge Pastor Peter Rigo of the charismatic evangelical Christian group denies.

Detective David Brady said yesterday the three arrested this week will not be identified until a formal arraignment on the charges against them. They will also appear in Hamilton court Sept. 25.

Police say the victim was walking to work at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2003, when she was forced into a van by a group of men and taken to a location in Halton. Inside the van, she recognized her captors, police said.

The woman was held at an undisclosed location in Halton and then taken to her parents’ home, where she managed to escape and contact police.